PRESS RELEASE

Economy / Europe / Saxony / Cluster / Micro- and Nanoelectronics

Silicon Europe Grows To The Worlds Biggest

Technology Cluster

Europes leading digital technology clusters are joining forces in the worlds biggest
technology cluster

Step-by-step strategy for a stronger European economy

EU representative Van Puymbroeck: Europe has the will and the strength to succeed as
a global technology player.

Dresden (Germany), October 6th, 2015. Recent studies1 show: European microelectronics are
facing an enormous challenge. Only 8 of the 100 biggest high-tech companies are located in
Europe; it is only in niches and B2B market segments, meaning information and communications
technology (ICT) solutions for companies, where European companies are still on equal terms with
global players. Former world market leaders from Europe fell behind in many industries or even
vanished from the market completely. The cluster alliance Silicon Europe, founded in 2012, is
bucking this trend.
Pan-European High-Tech Cluster for European Economic Strength: Silicon Europe
Experts are recommending establishing pan-European high-tech clusters in order to overcome the
fragmentation of the European economy to give it a new boost. European micro- and
nanoelectronics (MNE) and digital industry has already formed such a cluster alliance: To this day
Silicon Europe united Europes six leading micro- and nanoelectronics clusters Silicon Saxony
(Dresden/ Germany), DSP Valley (Leuven/Belgium), High Tech NL (Eindhoven/ the Netherlands),
Minalogic (Grenoble/ France), BCS NL (Nijmegen/ the Netherlands) and me2c (Carinthia/ Austria).
With this project coming to an end, the partners decided to continue their collaboration, deepening
and enlarging it into the Silicon Europe Alliance.
Another six European digital technology clusters have since joined the Silicon Europe Alliance. The
new members Distretto Green & High Tech (Italy), MIDAS (Ireland), GAIA (Spain), NMI (UK), miCluster (Greece) and the French SCS Cluster enlarge the cluster both geographically and
technologically, enriching the microelectronics value-chain, already represented within the Alliance.

A.T.Kearney: Rebooting Europes High-Tech Industry, 2014

They are joining their competences in research, development and production, thus strengthening
Europes leading role in the field of ICT. Now the Silicon Europe Alliance unites about 2,000 cluster
partners from industry and science, among them innovative SMEs, leading-edge research
institutions and global players such as Philips, NXP Semiconductors, Globalfoundries, Intel, Infineon,
STMicroelectronics, Schneider Electric and Thales. Silicon Europe can now claim to be the biggest
technology cluster in the world.
Resilient Cooperation Makes Silicon Europe a Strong Technology Force
In the last three years we initiated vivid and resilient partnerships that significantly strengthen
Europes technology leadership Peter Simkens, Managing Director at DSP Valley and newly elected
Chairman of the cluster alliance, says. Silicon Europe sustainably supported the European
technology development by bringing together scientists, developers and international decision
makers at events held by the cluster alliance. Silicon Europe had a decisive role to gather in
workshops or events European decision makers from politics and industry and RTOs on strategic
technologies for Europe. As a mid-size company, we got the opportunity to present through our
partners testimonies how our disruptive SOI technology leverages competitive advantages to
European companies in various domains, Nelly Kernevez, Partnership Director at the French
company Soitec, explains.
Strategy Paper For European Microelectronics
The cluster partners are now presenting a strategy paper (Joining Forces for European Leadership
for Innovative Electronics A 5 Step Joint Action Plan) for the time till 2018 that they developed
together in the past three years. In the paper they identify five fields of action that need to be
addressed in order to strengthen Europes competitiveness: Starting with the expansion of the
Knowledge and Technology Transfer (1) to taking advantage of the individual regions research,
innovation and technology activities through Smart Specialisation (2), supporting SME Funding (3),
the expansion of international visibility and International Business Development (4) and also the
Promotion of the growing importance of Micro- and Nanoelectronics (5) for our society.
This action plan will bring concrete added value to the cluster members, and notably the SMEs, as
many concrete examples illustrated during the project. Isabelle Guillaume, CEO of Minalogic and
Vice Chairman of the Alliance says: Continuing to strengthen the links between our ecosystems and
clusters will generate new opportunities for business and R&D, as was demonstrated during the
Silicon Europe project.

Europe proudly faces the international technology competition

Europe has the will and the strength to succeed as a global technology player. By bringing together
clusters and by fostering further closer cooperation in micro- and nanoelectronics across Europe we
have the means to prosper in the emerging digital economy and society, Willy Van Puymbroeck,
Head of a Unit at DG Connect of the European Commission says.
During the Silicon Europe project it was demonstrated that each region has got its individual
strengths that need to be focused in order to achieve a leading role in the global playing field. To
take advantage of these capacities and to better allocate resources in the cost-intensive ICT
industry, the Silicon Europe Alliance is sustainably strengthening the network of European actors
working in this high-tech industry. In order to achieve an even higher innovation frequency,
investments in research and product development need to be focused. Silicon Europe offers
platforms that help linking individual core competences, needs and expectations of the European
high-tech regions, thus strengthening the European technology leadership even more, Silicon
Europe-coordinator Frank Boesenberg concludes.
Politics meet to discuss Silicon Europe
On October 7th, the mayor of the City of Dresden, Dirk Hilbert, meets with representatives of the
Silicon Europe partner regions in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria as well as the new
leaders of Silicon Europe in order to discuss the individual regional development and to agree on
future cooperations.

More information: www.silicon-europe.eu

For any questions please contact:
WeichertMehner (Agency), Robert Weichert (robert.weichert@weichertmehner.com), Franziska Ilbring
(franziska.ilbring@weichertmehner.com), Phone: +49 351 50140 200
About Silicon Europe: Silicon Europe brings together the technological expertise and resources of Europes leading
players in micro- and nanoelectronics, located in Saxony (Germany), Rhne-Alpes (France), South and East
Netherlands (The Netherlands), Flanders (Belgium) and Carinthia (Austria). With the additional six European digital
technology member clusters Silicon Europe unites about 2,000 cluster partners from science and industry, among
them global players like Philips, NXP Semiconductors, Globalfoundries, Intel, Infineon, STMicroelectronics,
Schneider Electric and Thales. This makes Silicon Europe the biggest technology cluster in the world.